 "Photo: Chris Shipley")
Taking the handoff on 1st and 20, UNH junior wide receiver Mike Boyle ran into a wall of defenders on the UNH sideline. Scanning the field it had the look of a busted play, as the hole Boyle was designed to hit had been swallowed up by a mass of maroon and white.
Two great cuts, several key blocks, and 69 yards later, Boyle was in the endzone and UNH was off to the races, racking up 42 first half points on their way to a dominating 49-21 homecoming victory Saturday over Iona College within the friendly confines of Cowell Stadium.
With senior quarterback Ricky Santos sidelined for the game, red shirt freshmen quarterback R.J. Toman effectively managed the offense, making the big plays when needed, and relying on two old football standbys to get the win: defense and a running game.
"I thought the kids came out and played pretty well right from the get go," said UNH Head Coach Sean McDonnell. "We hit that big play early and kept the ball in front of us the rest of the game."
After the UNH defense forced a quick three and out, Toman and the offense engineered a nine play, 93 yard drive, culminating in a nice 10 yard pass from Toman to senior wide receiver Keith LeVan, and much like the Dartmouth game the 'Cats found themselves with a quick 14-0 lead.
"Those two scores early were huge," said Toman. "You always want to get a jump on the team that you're playing. Mike's run was huge, it was a great run. After that we executed and played very well as a team."
Just how dominant was the UNH effort?
The Wildcats racked up 351 first half yards on the way to scoring touchdowns on six of their nine first half possessions. Two of the three possessions that did not result in touchdowns came as a result of poor ball control, as UNH fumbled twice.
While the end results may seem familiar, the names and the means by which the points were scored during UNH's offensive explosion were of a much different variety on Saturday.
The 'Cats used a fleet of talented running backs to rack up a season high 257 yards on the ground on 49 carries, scoring six of their seven touchdowns via the rushing attack.
"The four guys we've got give us a lot of different weapons at the running back position," said McDonnell. "Kackert and Simpson add a lot of speed and quickness where as Ward and Jelli [Jellison] bring a good combination of that to the table."
Sean Jellison and Chad Kackert, two promising young backs in the Wildcat offense, both expressed relief at finally being able to contribute after seeing limited playing time early in the season due to injuries.
"It's been fun," said Kackert after the game. "A lot builds up when you're seeing your team play and you've been working out all summer and then the opportunity gets taken away by an injury before the season."
"It was good to get back in, I was a little sore last week but I'm fully recovered. It was nice to get out there and not worry, I felt free this week"
Jellison echoed those sentiments.
"It was nice to finally get in the game and get some carries. As the game went on I got more and more comfortable with reads and the speed of the game. It was nice to finally be able to go in and contribute."
Both were quick to take advantage of the playing time, as Jellison led all running backs with 65 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns. Kackert and senior running back Chris Ward each scored touchdowns as well.
Doing their best Colorado Rockies impression, it seems that every week there's a new Wildcat rising to the occasion and contributing big plays, which is just fine with Coach McDonnell.
"It's great. When kids get the opportunity to play and share what they do it's good to see. You're happy as a coach to see something like that go on because kids work hard and don't always get the opportunity to showcase what they do and score a touchdown."
Perhaps the most impressive play of the afternoon came from UNH's defense. The much maligned 'ugly bunch' held the Gaels to just 51 yards in the first half, allowing only four Iona first downs and limiting the offense to just over two minutes on UNH side of the field, most of which came when the 'Cats botched a punt deep within their own territory.
"I think we're starting to build on what's been happening the past few weeks," said McDonnell. "It might not look it in that Richmond game, but I thought the kids played better defense in that game. I thought last week we did a much better job, and for three quarters we held them down pretty good."
"This week I thought we had a real good idea of what they were going to do and our kids practiced well, I thought they did a great job."
Added senior free safety Jeff Pammer, "Week by week we're getting better. It all starts up front and the defensive line has done a much better job getting off the ball and filling the gaps."
"We've also done a much better job wrapping up and tackling. There haven't been as many missed tackles as there were in past weeks."
With the game well in hand, the 'Cats saw a lot of backups get quality playing time in the second half.
"We got a lot of guys a chance to play," said McDonnell. "It's good for us this time of year to get some rest for the starters and get the opportunity to evaluate some guys who've been practicing well."
"R.J. was in there and he threw the ball particularly well and if you take a look at the offensive line, we had Brandon Graham at right tackle and Tom Neill started at right guard. Again two kids who have not played a whole lot of football for us who did a great job."
With the win, the Wildcats improved their record to 4-2 on the season. The win makes it two in a row for the 'Cats who are looking to clean up some sloppy play for a big road game this week against CAA foe Hofstra.
"We can't make those mistakes next week," remarked McDonnell. "Yeah can't is a big word but we're going down next week to play a team that's undefeated and ranked in the top 10 in the country and you're playing them at home. It's gonna be a hell of a conference football game for us."
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